By Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON, Nov 10 (Reuters) - US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday called an effort to impeach him over abuse of power in the Iran war a farce and sabotage that plays into the hands of adversaries.
Hegseth made the comments at a news conference a day after US Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, introduced eight articles of impeachment against him.
In his first Pentagon news conference since May, Hegseth said past impeachments of President Donald Trump had ultimately failed and added:
"Both times he came back stronger, and the American people sent him back to the White House. Now they're trying a third time. This time against a member of his cabinet.
"They will fail again, and if standing with President Trump puts me in that company, I'll take that company every day of the week."
"This is not patriotism. This is sabotage," he said. "This process hands our adversaries a propaganda victory."
Referring to the Iran war, he said: "I stand beside every one of these operations. I was proud to execute them, and I would do it again tomorrow."
In a post on X, Massie said the House would hold a first vote on Tuesday on a procedural motion to kill the resolution.
"If we can overcome that effort, we will proceed to a real debate and vote on the Articles of Impeachment," he said.
Hegseth, asked about comments by Vice President JD Vance that the war was a major reason the Republicans lost this month's mid-term elections, said lessons of the conflict would be learned and applied, while adding:
"It was done for the right reasons, to ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon."
He cited US Secretary of State Marco Rubio as saying of the war: "It's not necessarily popular, but it may have been necessary, and that's certainly how I feel. It was a necessary undertaking."
Trump repeated his backing of Hegseth in a post on his Truth Social platform just after the Pentagon briefing ended.
"Pete Hegseth gets an 'A' PLUS, PLUS, PLUS for his defense against a disgruntled, angry, defeated, former Congressman, Thomas Massie, a TOTAL LOSER!" he wrote.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Chizu Nomiyama and Nick Zieminski)
